BP #10

The artwork I selected for my final blogpost is a painting I found at the Museum of Modern Art entitled "The Sleeping Gypsy" (1897) by the French artist Henri Rousseau. Rousseau uses cool colors and horizontal lines to give a calm, warm and relaxed appearance to the painting. 

The use of monochromatic color gives this painting the appearance of a warm, calm summer night. The dark blue and black of the sky contrasts with the dark brown color of the sand. The sky and sand create the negative space in this painting and the majority of this canvas is taken up by it. The dominant objects at the center of this painting are the gypsy woman who has bedded down for the night in the dessert with a guitar and vase lying next to her, and a lion who appears to be passing by. The darkness of the sky and the lions mane is contrasted with the brightness of the moon and the lions eye. Generally, when one thinks of a lion interacting with a human, we think of violence, the lion attacking the human but in this painting Rousseau use of color and calm horizontal lines gives this painting a peaceful and tranquil. feel.

I chose this artwork out of the many beautiful pieces in the MOMA painting gallery because the colors really made it stand out. There's something about the overall calmness of this painting that really drew me to it, the use of dark colors to invoke tranquility in the night when the night is usually considered something to fear. I also read that Rousseau was never able to enroll into art school in Paris despite many attempts. That was also a huge factor in my enjoyment of this artwork, if Rousseau can paint something this incredible with little formal art training than I believe it is possible for anybody to do something similar using their natural talents.

The visit to MOMA yesterday was my second since I started this class, early on in the semester, being constantly shown various works of art had already had its influence on me. I felt a need to spend more time in the various museums I have access to living in this city. Not taking advantage of that would be a huge loss. Although I feel that learning the various technical terms to describe art didn't change how I appreciate it, learning the background and history of art an artists certainly has. 

Creative Project #2

For this monument I have decided to address the issue of the failures of the criminal justice system in NYC and to a lesser extent around the world. I would like the main focus of this monument be for the city that we live in. In the early 90's due to the overcrowding of the prison on Riker's Island a barge was built to accommodate the growing number of prisoners in NYC. Prisoners at Riker's are often held without charge for days, months and sometimes even years. Still others are imprisoned for petty crimes like hopping subway turnstiles or unpaid fines. The prison is literally overcrowded with people who do not need to be there, most of whom are working class, disenfranchised people of color, people born into poverty who suffer most from being away from their families and their jobs.
I have chosen to shed light on this issue because I feel it is a topic that is often overlooked here in New York City. People view New York as a glamorous city, a wonderful place to visit but tend not to know about the city's dark side. The people who are harassed by the police everyday and fall victim to the broken criminal justice system.
My monument would be an exact replica of the prison barge on Riker's Island, the drab depressing steel structure will be located on the Hudson River, down by Battery Park, an area inhabited by some the most affluent in New York. It will serve as a constant reminder of the frustration, depression and anger that victims of NYC's criminal justice system suffer through every day, before, during and after their stay in prison. It will create awareness for residents and visitors of this city that we do have problems, and maybe one day it will lead to a drastic but necessary change of our criminal justice system.

BP #7, 8

Old Man

A sixty-year-old man in enormous seersucker pants
Corn licker, I guess
His work is drawn on walls and floors, and is causing a stir on the art scene
he turns around and there is a paper toilet seat cover tucked into his pants
Are you a virgin?
unzipping and pulling his own pants down

Google Translate version (Spanish, Greek, Korean, Swedish, Swahili, Thai, Finnish, Japanese, Bengali, Latin then English):

Year

60 large-scale stripes of light and the type of pants.
Corn guy's opinion
His work could lead to confusion in the field, is inspired by the floor or wall.
These particular pants are the toilet paper.
You Virgin?
Zipper pull down his pants

Creative Project #1

Trying to encompass every aspect of my life, and what defines me as a person is very difficult. I identify as many different things, a student, worker, Japanese American and musician are what I believe to be the four main aspects of my life. This photograph captures one aspect of my life, pictured above is every single vinyl release I have played on over the past 5 years, 11 Ep's and 3 full length LP's. This is the music I have written and recorded in the various bands I have played in. This is the entire hard copy discography of my musical career.
What I believe makes this an artwork is that this is the first time I have ever compiled everything into one photographic shot. These records generally just sit in a shelf at home, rarely do I take them out. Putting these records together in one place has forced me to reflect on everything I have done over the past 5 years of my life.
With this photograph I am trying to show the viewer a snippet of my life, recording music and releasing it in vinyl format is very important to me and I wanted to make that clear by showing the amount of output I have had in such a short period of time. For my materials I decided it would be best to use the physical copies of the records I have.
Stuart Hall writes that stereotypes, reduces, essentializes, naturalizes  and fixes the people that they are directed towards. This photograph is a direct and honest representation of a very important aspect of my life. It is not a stereotype, it does not reduce my life to a small group of traits, it is the physical proof of what I have accomplished with my music.

El Museo Essay

Dear Rodriguez Calero,
I recently visited El Museo de Barrio and was fascinated by one of your works of art entitled "Dancers" (1982). I read that you have titled the unique medium of your art as "Acrollage" and I had some questions about how you created your own style. I notice that you use a combination of paint and collage in your artwork, how did you decide on this combination? Was there one medium over the other that you preferred first? And if so, when did you decide to incorporate the two together to create your Acrollage's? I also noticed that on this particular work you used printed paper as your canvas. Is there a reason why you used a page from a book or magazine to paint and collage on? Does the use of this canvas have any significance in your art or were you simply using the materials available to you at the time?
I also have some questions about your creative process. When creating your acrollage's, do you start with the painting or with the cut outs for you collage? Do you see the images in your mind before you begin or is your creative process more free form, deciding what you do as you go along?
I was also wondering what the motivation behind this particular artwork was? I notice that you have combined several styles of art from different time periods to create this piece. Both the man and woman appear very well dressed but the woman's face is a collage in the style of ancient Greek sculpture and the mans face is painted in much more of an abstract style, reminiscent of Picasso. What was the significance of using these two very different styles in this particular work of art? Where you trying to signify the different roles of men and women in society or did you simply choose these different styles because you found them aesthetically pleasing?
When I first observed this work of art I noticed the dichotomy between the majestic and beautiful forms of the dancers and the somewhat disturbing and terrifying depictions of their faces. What exactly was your intent when you created this artwork? Is this artwork a commentary on upper class society? Upon first glance I felt that you were trying to stress a point about the ugliness and gilded falsehood of the upper class, dressed beautifully but ugly on the inside. Was this your intention when you created this artwork? Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Charles Tye Miller

BP 5/6

Title: The Necklace

Date: Unknown

Artist: Unknown

Origin: Mexico

Function: Accessory

The item I have chosen for this blog post is a accessory I found in a flea market know as "El Chopo" in Mexico City, DF. I am not positive about the origin of this necklace or what the artwork represents but it appears to be a Aztec, Mayan or Olmec design of some kind. I purchased it purely because it was aesthetically pleasing to me and I felt that it would be a great token of my trip to Mexico a few years ago. I wore this necklace everyday for almost a year and while I was traveling the world playing concerts it traveled with me, so it has quite a lot of sentimental value to me, despite it's monetary value being little to nothing, I believe I only paid about 20 pesos ($2) for this particular necklace. It snapped in half while I was playing with it around my neck when I was in Europe but I've held onto it still.

In John Cotton Dana's Gloom of the Museum, he writes that the people who decide what goes in a museum are the wealthy elite who can afford to buy expensive works of art and display them for the public to see. Dana believes that this one sided view of art from the wealthy elite, leads to the lack of diversity of objects displayed in a museum, he writes that the aristocracy "have always felt of acquiring ancient, rare and costly objects, that the possession of them may mark them superior to the poor and weak." The piece of artwork I have chosen is the exact opposite of what Dana sees as the problem in the art displayed in museums by the wealthy. The monetary value of this necklace is next to nothing, but the detail is spectacular and it's design is beautiful. This necklace is an homage to an ancient culture and style of art. It is an object that is commonly found throughout Mexico today but something that may not be represented in a museum.

Museum Essay #1

The two works of art I have chosen for this blog post date about 3000 years apart but both depict men posing. The first artwork is titled "Relief from Battle Scene", it dates back to the reign of Amenhotep II circa 1479-1400 BC,the medium is painted sandstone and the artist's name is unknown. The second artwork is titled "The Builders" (1920) by Fernand Leger, his medium is oil on canvas. Although these two scenes were created thousands of years apart there are some similar themes, the first painting depicts a battle scene, something that happened fairly often in ancient Egypt, the second painting depicts men at work on a building site, something we see often in todays world. Both of these artists were depicting what they saw in the world around them.

The first painting is representational art, it has two dimensional figures painted on rock, the stylized way ancient Egyptians always drew figures. The colors that the Egyptian artist used were chosen because they are the closest to realistic they could be. 

The second painting is much more abstract, it was created during a time when artists were creating a new way of representing people and objects with geometric shapes and avoiding using any realistic forms. The colors that Leger has used are also unnatural and the bright colors mixed with the black and white figures gives this artwork a very warm feel. Leger's artwork also seems to have more depth, the figures overlapping the colors in the background give this painting this illusion. In ancient Egypt, artists did not have the ability to paint figures and give them the illusion of depth. Although these two paintings are stylistically completely different there are some similarities in the shapes that these artists have created. At first glance you can tell that both of these artworks are of human figures, the shapes that the artists have drawn make that clear. 

These two artworks were made in completely different eras, Leger had the benefit of thousands of years worth of art technique at his disposal but the themes in both these artworks are still similar. Stylistically, these two artworks are certainly different and many would say that Leger's painting is much more sophisticated and technically superior but it seems that throughout history artists tend to render the world around them as they see it. Styles and mediums of art have changed but generally, with the exception of very abstract, non-representational art, artists have always depicted nature and their world in a way that they are best able and comfortable with.

Both of these artworks represent two very different eras in art, the ancient Egyptians created art for centuries, it is regarded as one of the most advanced ancient civilizations. The art they created is on display in museums across the world, the artwork above is a significant piece of ancient art from a time when many parts of the world were not creating art solely for the purpose of viewing. The cubist painting by Leger represents a completely different period in art. It was painted in an era where abstract art was being created in contrast to the representational art that preceded it for centuries. This is the reason both these artworks are in the museum today.

BP #4

The figure I have chosen for this blog post is "Standing Female Nude" by Pablo Picasso (1910). The style of this figure is clearly abstract, this drawing barely resembles a actual nude woman. Although this drawing looks nothing like a woman, the shape shows that it is a woman standing. Parts of the legs, arms, thighs and head can be seen in this drawing as geometric shapes as opposed to natural, organic parts of the body. This drawing illustrates Picasso's use of cubism to depict real life objects in a completely unique style.
In Ways of Seeing, John Berger states "a woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her. Her presence is manifest in her gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings and taste." In this drawing by Picasso, he has chosen how this figure would be defined. He is the one that has decided what can be done to her, giving him the power in this situation. Picasso is the surveyor and she is the surveyed. Although this painting is so abstract that the theme of the work is unlikely to be based on sexual attraction, Picasso is still the one in control, he is making the decisions about how this woman is going to be depicted. Picasso has decided how this woman was going to be displayed, despite the fact that this abstract drawing is not in the tradition of classic European figure paintings the came before, many of the same issues of inequality still apply.

BP #3 "Economy Stainless"

This is a picture of a building that I pass several times a week, it is the last warehouse building left in a very gentrified street in Bushwick, near a record store I work out of occasionally. I decided to simply call it "Economy Stainless" after the name of the business that inhabits it. Every time I pass it I notice how distinctly different it is from the condominiums that surround it. The new buildings are pristine but cold, this building is simple but clearly has years of character.
The colors in this photograph are dark, the once blue paint on the sheeting is cracking and beginning to rust. The dumpster in front of the building is brown with rust from years and years of use, as are the iron gates in front of the building. The white sign which was once new and bright is now rusty and old.
The cloudy, gloomy weather in the space surrounding this building adds to the run down, sad feeling of this picture. The closed gate in the foreground and background, along with the trash piled in the front gives the building a somewhat negative, neglected feel to it.
I took this picture this past weekend on a day that was a little chilly and gave me the feeling that summer was finally over. I decided I wanted to photograph something that reflected my melancholy feelings. When I pass this building I can't help but wonder how much longer it'll still be there, every few weeks something changes in this neighborhood so drastically that I think an old building like this surrounded by new buildings can in fact be considered a work of art.

BP #2

The piece of art I have chosen for this blog post is one I found on The Metropolitan Museum of Art webpage entitled "Still Life with Checked Tablecloth" by Juan Gris. The first visual element I would like to call attention to in this piece are the shapes. This painting uses a variety of cube like shapes to form images of every day items. These items are manipulated into these strange shapes by the artist and make still life unrealistic but unique. 

Another visual element in this piece is the artists use of space. The dominant objects, or the positive space, are the objects in the middle of the painting placed on the table. The negative space is the table and the area around it. Clearly the artists wants attention drawn to the objects on the table and not to the area surrounding it.

Color is also an important element in this piece. The artists uses a wide variety of distinct, bright colors to make this painting stand out. There are parts of the painting that use a lot of monochromatic colors and then areas that use complementary colors to distinguish differences in the objects that the artists has rendered.

The reason I chose this painting was because I was searching for paintings in the style of cubism because I thought I would be able to find clear examples of visual elements in them. This is the first painting that stuck out for me. The way the shapes are formed on this painting make give it a chaotic feel for me, like the artists began drawing and decided he would paint things in any manner that he found appealing. The colors he uses are bright and friendly, it gives the painting a pleasant feel that I enjoy very much.

Post #1

Most of my close friends are very talented artists, I consider myself very lucky to be constantly surrounded by people who are being creative and doing some really incredible stuff. From art for band t-shirts, album art, concert posters or artwork for local businesses, the artwork I'm surrounded by on a daily basis is impressive and awe inspiring. The photo above is a t-shirt designed by my roommate Sam Ryser for our friends band Hank Wood and the Hammerheads. Sam has a really unique style of art that has always fascinated me, he's been working a lot on lettering and sign painting lately and some of the script that he's been coming up with has made the art he's been doing really interesting. I spend a lot of time playing shows and going to see bands, the music is the main reason I go but the aesthetic of the bands and the artwork that they use adds so much to something I love.

Introduction

Hi everyone, my name is Charles Tye Miller, I'm from Tokyo, Japan originally but moved to Switzerland when I was 10 then here in NYC when I was 16. This is my first semester back at school since I was 18 and I am very excited to be doing something new. I've spent the past 5 years or so as a professional musician traveling the world and playing shows, I still play very often here in New York but I'm no longer interested in being on the road for 6 months out of the year. I play guitar in a Industrial/Electronic band called L.O.T.I.O.N. and I play bass in a punk rock band called Mommy. These two projects take up most of my free time and when I'm not in class or doing classwork I'm working on music.